London close: Footsie rallies to close ahead
London pulled itself into the blue by the close thanks to big gains at ITV, Rio Tinto and Pennon.
ITV shot to the top of the FTSE 100 leaderboard on talk that BSkyB had sold its 17.9% stake but this was denied later on with the satellite broadcaster said to have no immediate plans to sell according to the latest reports.
Rio Tinto is also going well on a revival of the bid talk, while a combination of a buoyant utility sector and results next week helped water group Pennon.
Property giant Land Securities is easier as JP Morgan said 'underweight' with a price target down from 2,500p to 2,275p.
Mitchells & Butlers is also down in the dumps after Deutsche Bank lowered the pub and restaurant operator to 'hold' from 'buy'. The German broker is worried about possible hold ups in the firm's plan to improve its capital structure and says the shares have already surged ahead of completion.
Power station operator International Power fell as it revealed that it exercised its option to buy the remaining 50% of Energy Australia and International Power (Australia) retail energy partnership for £59m.
Experian is one of the best performers as investors continue to chase the stock following good figures earlier in the week and a Citigroup upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold' with price target raised to 680p from 580p.
GlaxoSmithKline has also seen a mild recovery after all of the alleged problems with its Avandia diabetes treatment. SG Securities upgraded the shares to 'hold' from 'sell'.
Amongst the midcaps, Woolworths was higher on news it is to supply Asda with CDs, video games, and selected elements of Asda's DVD range. "On a full year basis, it is anticipated that this will add approximately £200m to EUK's turnover," Woolworths said in a statement.
Magazine owner Emap led after Morgan Stanley lifted the shares to 'overweight' from 'equal-weight' following news of chief executive Tom Moloney's resignation last week. It has lifted its price target to 1,025p from 770p and slapped an upper case break up value on the company of 1,139p on 3.1 times sales
Marston's lifted interim profits by 1.5% to £41.6m, ahead of forecasts, in the half-year to March. Revenues rose by 8.5% to £305m. The pub group said it would up its share buyback to £150m but does not intend to split into an operating and property company to achieve REIT status.
Media buyer Aegis says it is on track for another good year after starting 2007 well. Organic revenue growth has increased to 8.5% in the first quarter with the outlook healthy for both the advertising and market research markets.
Regent Inns says like-for-like sales in the 17 weeks to 31 March rose by 2.6% year on year but the fourth quarter has seen a more challenging environment and less favourable like-for-like sales which, at level year-on-year, are below expectations.
Insurer Catlin said it has performed strongly in the quarter to 31 March, reflecting generally positive market conditions. Gross premiums written during the period of $1.2bn matched its targets and topped the $500m written by the group on a stand-alone basis in the first quarter of 2006.
Irish biotech Elan pushed ahead as Goldman Sachs stuck on a target price of $25 saying the value of the multiple sclerosis treatment Tysabri and potential for treating Alzheimers aren't reflected in the current share price.
Biocompatibles signed a new deal with Abbott Laboratories, to supply polymer to Medtronic's Endeavor drug eluting stent, sending its shares higher.
Architect and design group SMC Group warned Friday that the initial findings from a review initiated by executive chairman Rodney Walker, together with recent trading, could hurt half year profits.
FTSE 100 - Risers
ITV (ITV) 119.60p +4.36%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,678.00p +4.19%
Experian (EXPN) 628.00p +2.87%
Kelda (KEL) 1,001.00p +2.46%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,487.00p +1.50%
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Royal & Sun Alliance (RSA) 162.10p +1.31%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Land Securities (LAND) 1,852.00p -2.17%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,344.00p -1.68%
Compass Group (CPG) 374.00p -1.64%
Wolseley (WOS) 1,312.00p -1.58%
Home Retail Group (HOME) 465.00p -1.54%
BG Group (BG.) 774.00p -1.34%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Pennon (PNN) 700.50p +5.66%
Northumbrian Water Group (NWG) 344.75p +3.14%
Cookson Group (CKSN) 717.00p +2.80%
Woolworths Group (WLW) 28.50p +2.70%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 685.00p +2.62%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 170.00p +2.41%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Computacenter (CCC) 241.25p -5.21%
Kier Group (KIE) 2,245.00p -4.26%
Dimension Data (DDT) 54.25p -3.98%
Premier Farnell (PFL) 212.75p -3.95%
Taylor Woodrow (TWOD) 458.25p -3.53%
Pendragon (PDG) 110.00p -3.51%
